Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation
Background: The vertebrate brain plays a critical role in the regulation of sexual maturation and reproduction by integrating environmental information with developmental and endocrine status. The European eel Anguilla anguilla is an important species in which to better understand the neuroendocrine...
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ftunivalgarve:oai:sapientia.ualg.pt:10400.1/5694 2023-05-15T13:27:29+02:00 Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation Churcher, Allison Pujolar, Jose M. Milan, Massimo Hubbard, Peter Martins, Rute S. T. L. Saraiva, João Huertas, Mar Bargelloni, Luca Patarnello, T. Marino, Ilaria A. M. Zane, Lorenzo Canario, Adelino V. M. 2014-09-23T14:35:26Z http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/5694 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 eng eng BioMed Central BMC Genomics. 2014 Sep 17;15(1):799 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/5694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 openAccess Allison M Churcher et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Eel Microarray Neuroendocrine Gene expression Brain Reproduction article 2014 ftunivalgarve https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 2022-05-30T08:46:09Z Background: The vertebrate brain plays a critical role in the regulation of sexual maturation and reproduction by integrating environmental information with developmental and endocrine status. The European eel Anguilla anguilla is an important species in which to better understand the neuroendocrine factors that control reproduction because it is an endangered species, has a complex life cycle that includes two extreme long distance migrations with both freshwater and seawater stages and because it occupies a key position within the teleost phylogeny. At present, mature eels have never been caught in the wild and little is known about most aspects of reproduction in A. anguilla. The goal of this study was to identify genes that may be involved in sexual maturation in experimentally matured eels. For this, we used microarrays to compare the gene expression profiles of sexually mature to immature males. Results: Using a false discovery rate of 0.05, a total of 1,497 differentially expressed genes were identified. Of this set, 991 were expressed at higher levels in brains (forebrain and midbrain) of mature males while 506 were expressed at lower levels relative to brains of immature males. The set of up-regulated genes includes genes involved in neuroendocrine processes, cell-cell signaling, neurogenesis and development. Interestingly, while genes involved in immune system function were down-regulated in the brains of mature males, changes in the expression levels of several receptors and channels were observed suggesting that some rewiring is occurring in the brain at sexual maturity. Conclusions: This study shows that the brains of eels undergo major changes at the molecular level at sexual maturity that may include re-organization at the cellular level. Here, we have defined a set of genes that help to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling reproduction in eels. Some of these genes have previously described functions while many others have roles that have yet to be characterized in a reproductive ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Anguilla anguilla European eel Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta BMC Genomics 15 1 799 |
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Open Polar |
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Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalgarve |
language |
English |
topic |
Eel Microarray Neuroendocrine Gene expression Brain Reproduction |
spellingShingle |
Eel Microarray Neuroendocrine Gene expression Brain Reproduction Churcher, Allison Pujolar, Jose M. Milan, Massimo Hubbard, Peter Martins, Rute S. T. L. Saraiva, João Huertas, Mar Bargelloni, Luca Patarnello, T. Marino, Ilaria A. M. Zane, Lorenzo Canario, Adelino V. M. Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
topic_facet |
Eel Microarray Neuroendocrine Gene expression Brain Reproduction |
description |
Background: The vertebrate brain plays a critical role in the regulation of sexual maturation and reproduction by integrating environmental information with developmental and endocrine status. The European eel Anguilla anguilla is an important species in which to better understand the neuroendocrine factors that control reproduction because it is an endangered species, has a complex life cycle that includes two extreme long distance migrations with both freshwater and seawater stages and because it occupies a key position within the teleost phylogeny. At present, mature eels have never been caught in the wild and little is known about most aspects of reproduction in A. anguilla. The goal of this study was to identify genes that may be involved in sexual maturation in experimentally matured eels. For this, we used microarrays to compare the gene expression profiles of sexually mature to immature males. Results: Using a false discovery rate of 0.05, a total of 1,497 differentially expressed genes were identified. Of this set, 991 were expressed at higher levels in brains (forebrain and midbrain) of mature males while 506 were expressed at lower levels relative to brains of immature males. The set of up-regulated genes includes genes involved in neuroendocrine processes, cell-cell signaling, neurogenesis and development. Interestingly, while genes involved in immune system function were down-regulated in the brains of mature males, changes in the expression levels of several receptors and channels were observed suggesting that some rewiring is occurring in the brain at sexual maturity. Conclusions: This study shows that the brains of eels undergo major changes at the molecular level at sexual maturity that may include re-organization at the cellular level. Here, we have defined a set of genes that help to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling reproduction in eels. Some of these genes have previously described functions while many others have roles that have yet to be characterized in a reproductive ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Churcher, Allison Pujolar, Jose M. Milan, Massimo Hubbard, Peter Martins, Rute S. T. L. Saraiva, João Huertas, Mar Bargelloni, Luca Patarnello, T. Marino, Ilaria A. M. Zane, Lorenzo Canario, Adelino V. M. |
author_facet |
Churcher, Allison Pujolar, Jose M. Milan, Massimo Hubbard, Peter Martins, Rute S. T. L. Saraiva, João Huertas, Mar Bargelloni, Luca Patarnello, T. Marino, Ilaria A. M. Zane, Lorenzo Canario, Adelino V. M. |
author_sort |
Churcher, Allison |
title |
Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
title_short |
Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
title_full |
Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
title_fullStr |
Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
title_sort |
changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male european eels (anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation |
publisher |
BioMed Central |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/5694 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 |
genre |
Anguilla anguilla European eel |
genre_facet |
Anguilla anguilla European eel |
op_relation |
BMC Genomics. 2014 Sep 17;15(1):799 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/5694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 |
op_rights |
openAccess Allison M Churcher et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-799 |
container_title |
BMC Genomics |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
799 |
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1766398693147148288 |